Smoke on the Horizon... oh s**t!

From: Tom Jennings <tomj_at_wps.com>
Date: Tue Feb 17 17:01:08 2004

I find it interesting that so many tants are dying.

Were the deceased run close to their rated voltage? One word suffices
for increased component life: DERATE!

Stick 100V caps where 16V once lived. It costs more. There you go.

tomj



On Mon, 2004-02-16 at 13:10, Peter C. Wallace wrote:
> On Mon, 16 Feb 2004, Michael Sokolov wrote:
>
> > So here is my question then: if not tantalum, then what?
> >
> > I've always been told that aluminum electrolytic caps were cheap stuff that
> > doesn't last and that tantalum caps are much better and (that was the claim)
> > eternal. So I guess this is wrong. What is the truth then? Is it the other
> > way around? Or are they both bad? And why are so many people, including on
> > this list, saying "aluminum electrolytics are cheap crap, use tantalum"?
> >
> > And what are the *good* caps to use?
> >
> > MS
> >
>
> Must be something about the period when they were made or the manufacturer,
> we've used millions over the years and never had much trouble with them...
>
> Tantalums have lower ESR than (standard aluminum electrolytics) and last
> longer (dont dry out), plus they have a wider operating temperature range.
> Most aluminum electrolytics stop being capacitors around freezing.
>
> So my with experience with Tantalums has been good, I even have some 50's
> vintage ones that work fine (Tantalum foil).
>
>
>
> Peter Wallace
> Mesa Electronics
Received on Tue Feb 17 2004 - 17:01:08 GMT